Roots

This week's Roots CDs reviewed

TAYLOR SWIFT

Fearless/ Big Machine Records****

Now here is one frighteningly organised and seriously talented young woman. At 19, Taylor Swift has already had two multimillion- selling albums in the US. Possibly because she is getting a little long in the tooth, Swift has opted to spread her spell beyond her native land with a world tour and the European release of Fearless, her second album. And what a confident and smart performer she is. Swift wrote or co-wrote all 15 country-pop tracks and sings with the kind of panache, power and sweet vulnerability that will be her key to world conquest. She is the talented girl next door, tapping into the swirl of young love, always acting her age with an impressive self-awareness. It's classy, brilliantly produced and powerful country teen-pop with no end of catchy choruses and an adult exclusion zone. www.taylorswift. com

JOE BREEN

Download tracks: Fifteen, Hey Stephen

DIANA JONES

Better Times Will Come/ Proper***

Diana Jones seems a name more suited to a shires mum than a Tennessee country/oldtimey singer. But her story, which informs many of her songs, is one that should touch the heart at least just as much as the sense of renewal in the title track. Born in Tennessee but adopted and raised in New York, Jones went in search of her roots and discovered her grandfather, Robert Lee Maranville, a well- known local singer. Reunited with her birth family, Jones began her apprenticeship as a musician before the death of Maranville inspired her to write the well-received My Remembrance of You. The songs here are equally impressive, from the autobiographical All God's Childrento the naked vengeance of If I Had a Gunand the beauty of Cracked and Broken. Her voice is strong, though it lacks colour. But her own simple production makes the most of it and these thoughtful and rewarding songs. www.diana jonesmusic.com

JOE BREEN

Download tracks: Better Times Will Come, Cracked and Broken